Mark Iuliano

Mark Iuliano (Italian pronunciation: [ˈmark juˈljaːno]; born 12 August 1973) is an Italian football manager and a former professional footballer who played as a defender. Following his retirement he worked as a coach. He is currently working as Igor Tudor's assistant at Serie A club Udinese.[5]

Mark Iuliano
Personal information
Full name Mark Iuliano[1]
Date of birth (1973-08-12) 12 August 1973
Place of birth Cosenza, Italy
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s) Defender
Club information
Current team
 Udinese (assistant coach)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1990–1996 Salernitana 83 (1)
1992–1993 → Bologna (loan) 24 (1)
1993–1994 → Monza (loan) 16 (0)
1996–2005 Juventus 187 (7)
2005–2006 Real Mallorca 29 (4)
2006 Sampdoria 4 (0)
2006–2007 Messina 21 (0)
2008 Ravenna 10 (2)
2010–2012[2] San Genesio
National team
1998–2003 Italy 19 (1)
Teams managed
2012–2014[3] Pavia (youth)
2014–2015[4] Latina Primavera
2015 Latina
2017 Como
2017 Partizani Tirana
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Iuliano spent the bulk of his playing career with, Juventus, in Serie A, a club with which he won several domestic and international trophies. At international level, he represented the Italy national football team at UEFA Euro 2000, reaching the final, and at the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Club career

Salernitana

Born in Cosenza, Mark Iuliano started his professional football career with Salernitana Calcio in 1990. He would transfer to Bologna FC on a season loan deal in 1992 and scored 1 goal in 24 appearances. After returning to Salerno, he was again sent out on loan in 1993, for another season long loan deal. This time, Iuliano moved to A.C. Monza He would go on to make 16 appearances for the club. After two impressive loan spells in Bologna and Monza, Iuliano returned to Salernitana Calcio, and became a regular starter after his return, making over 85 appearances, and scoring a single goal, playing both as a centre back and as a full back.

Juventus

After greatly impressing in his second spell with Salernitana, Iuliano caught the eye of several major scouts, most notably those of Serie A giants Juventus. In July 1996, Iuliano transferred to the Torino based outfit, and was a big hit right from the start, as Juventus continued their Serie A and European dominance. He made his Serie A début on 15 September 1996, 2–1 win over Cagliari Calcio. In his first season with Juventus he played in 21 league games scoring a single goal in a 1–1 away draw against Atalanta on 23 May 1997, which saw Juventus claim the league title that season.[6][7]

During the 1997–98 season, Iuliano also became widely known for a controversial episode in Juventus's Derby d'Italia match in Turin against Inter on 26 April 1998, involving Ronaldo:[6] a collision that occurred between the two players in the Juventus penalty area, which saw both players go to ground, led the Inter players to claim what they felt to be a clear penalty for a tackle of obstruction, but the referee let the play continue as the players continued to protest; to add to the controversy, Juventus were awarded a contested penalty only thirty seconds later.[8][9] Although Juventus did not convert the penalty successfully, they still ended up winning the match 1–0,[8] and went on to win the league title mathematically two days later, following a 3–2 home win against Bologna, with Inter finishing in second place.[10] Following the match, the referee who had officiated the game, Piero Ceccarini, also came out publicly and stated that he had made a mistake, and that he should have called the foul and assigned a penalty to Inter for the challenge, although that, at the time, he did not witness the entire play that led to the incident, only the collision between the two players, which drew further criticism from the press.[11] Up to this day, the incident has therefore acquired a degree of infamy, and is still widely debated in the Italian media, and often cited in newspapers. When asked about the episode in a 2009 interview, however, Ceccarini changed his view and said that in hindsight he would have not awarded a penalty, but instead an indirect free kick to Inter inside the penalty area for obstruction.[8] In an even more recent interview with the newspaper Il Tirreno in 2016, however, Ceccarini later further clarified, "From the images it is clear that Ronaldo runs into Iuliano, not vice versa: as a matter of fact, the Juventus player falls backwards, resulting from the impact of Ronaldo running into him. I was on the pitch, a few meters away. The intention of the defender was to stop the attacker's progression, but the attacker moved the ball and the defender did not follow it. Iuliano was stationary at the moment of contact, there are no doubts about this. I told Pagliuca (Inter's goalkeeper) that in basketball this would be an offensive foul. Perhaps I ought to have whistled a foul in favour of Juventus".[12] In a 2015 interview, when Iuliano was asked about the incident, he stated that he felt that a penalty should not have been awarded, but that due to the speed at which the collision occurred, it was not immediately obvious what the correct decision should have been, and that it was also possible that an offensive foul could have been given against Inter.[6]

Iuliano would become an eventual starter for the club the following season, but was hampered by injuries in the 1999–2000 season, limiting him to just 20 appearances. Juventus had what was considered by some pundits to be one of, if not the best defence in the world at this time, and were known for their ability to concede very few goals, which made the side particularly effective in closely contested matches. Iuliano formed impressive defensive partnerships with the likes of Ciro Ferrara, Moreno Torricelli, Paolo Montero, Gianluca Pessotto, Lilian Thuram, Alessandro Birindelli, Igor Tudor, Gianluca Zambrotta, Nicola Legrottaglie, and Fabio Cannavaro during his 10-year tenure with the club. After the 2004–2005 Serie A triumph, veteran teammates Paolo Montero and Ciro Ferrara called it quits on their Juventus career (this title was later revoked following Juventus's involvement in the 2006 Calciopoli scandal). The Uruguayan opted to return to his homeland, while Iuliano remained, but in January 2005, he left for La Liga side RCD Mallorca on free transfer after having not played regularly in the first portion season. Iuliano made well over 200 total appearances for i bianconeri, scoring nearly 15 goals. [13] During his time at Juventus, Iuliano won 4 Serie A titles, an Intercontinental Cup, a UEFA Super Cup and three Italian Supercups, also reaching three UEFA Champions League finals (in 1997, 1998, and 2003) and two Coppa Italia finals (in 2002 and 2004).

Mallorca

Iuliano transferred to RCD Mallorca in the Spanish La Liga in the summer of 2005 after 10 years with Juventus. He would remain at the club for only one season however, despite a fairly decent season starting 29 total games and scoring 4 goals.

Sampdoria

Iuliano returned to Italy in January 2006, by transferring to Serie A club, UC Sampdoria. He remained at the Genoa based club for just a mere six months, before a July transfer away from Liguria after making just 4 appearances in the league.

Messina

After a disappointing period with Sampdoria, Iuliano moved to Sicilian club F.C. Messina Peloro in the summer of 2006. After two consecutive fairly impressive Serie A seasons, Messina failed to avoid relegation in the 2006–2007 Serie A season. Iuliano made a total of 24 appearances for the club between the Coppa Italia and the Serie A, and scored 1 goal. Following Messina's relegation to Serie B, Iuliano's contract was not renewed, and hence he became a free agent on 1 July 2007.

Ravenna

Iuliano was unable to find a club during the 2007 summer transfer window, and was linked with a return to former club Juventus, following their re-building of the club's squad. This news turned out to be just rumours, as the deal never took off, and Iuliano remained a free agent for the next 6 months. After those 6 months without a club, he signed for Serie B side Ravenna Calcio in January 2008. The veteran was instantly inserted into the starting eleven, and picked up good form before he failed a doping test after playing for Ravenna Calcio in a Serie B match against A.C. Cesena, in May 2008. After being found positive for cocaine he was successively disqualified for two years.

Retirement

After this series of events, Iuliano opted to call it quits on his career and officially retired from professional football in March 2012; he was 38 years old.

International career

Iuliano was a regular in the Italy national football team setup during the peak of his career as he earned his first call-up in 1998 and received his last cap in 2003. He appeared for the Italy national football team at UEFA Euro 2000, where Italy finished in 2nd place, and at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He would make 19 total international appearances, scoring one goal for his country. His debut came on 5 September 1998 against Wales. He scored his only international goal against Portugal on 26 April 2000.[14]

Style of play

Regarded as one of the best and most consistent Italian defenders of his generation, Iuliano was a large, tenacious, and physically strong defender, who excelled in the air, and who was an accomplished man-marker and an experienced tackler; he usually played as a centre-back, although he was a tactically versatile player, who was also capable of playing as a full-back.[15][16][17]

Coaching career

After retirement, Iuliano took a role as youth coach for the Allievi Nazionali at Pavia in 2012.

In July 2014, Iuliano was appointed as youth coach at Serie B club Latina. On 5 January 2015, he was promoted head coach in place of Roberto Breda, with the goal to save the club from relegation.[18] He was sacked in November 2015.

On 26 May 2017 he was appointed has Como head coach.

On 26 July 2017 Iuliano reached an agreement with Albanian Albanian Superliga club FK Partizani Tirana to become The Reds new head coach.

On 24 April 2018, he was appointed as new assistant coach of Udinese alongside new head coach Igor Tudor.[5]

Honours

Club
Juventus[19]

International
Italy[20]

Orders
5th Class / Knight: Cavaliere Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana: 2000[21]

References
  1. "Comunicato Ufficiale N. 319" [Official Press Release No. 319] (PDF) (in Italian). Lega Serie A. 19 April 2007. p. 7. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  2. Iuliano torna a giocare in PRIMA CATEGORIA, per amore... E non è tutto: "Forse farà l'ATTACCANTE!"‚ goal.com, 7 September 2010
  3. Biografia di Mark Iuliano‚ cinquantamila.it
  4. Mark Iuliano è il nuovo tecnico della Primavera dell’ U.S. Latina Calcio‚ italnews.info, 22 July 2014
  5. "Udinese, UFFICIALE: l'ex Juve Tudor è il nuovo allenatore: Iuliano secondo" (in Italian). Calciomercato.com. 24 April 2018. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  6. FRANCESCO SAVERIO INTORCIA (30 January 2015). "Mark Iuliano: "Sono immortale grazie a Ronaldo, pago il mio debito salvando il Latina"" (in Italian). La Repubblica. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  7. Maurizio Mariani (31 January 2000). "Italy Championship 1996/97". www.rsssf.com. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  8. "Nel 1998 su Ronaldo era fallo" (in Italian). sportmediaset.mediaset.it. 20 April 2009. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  9. Luca Caioli (24 January 2005). "Fallo su Ronaldo: Iuliano espulso al debutto" (in Italian). Corriere della Sera. p. 41. Archived from the original on 15 July 2012.
  10. Giancarlo Padovan; Stefano Agresti (11 May 1998). "Super Pippo si fa in tre per lo scudetto" (in Italian). Corriere della Sera. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  11. "Ceccarini: "Su Ronaldo ho sbagliato"" (in Italian). Corriere della Sera. 2 August 1998. p. 29. Archived from the original on 1 July 2012.
  12. GIANNI TACCHI (2 March 2016). "L'arbitro Ceccarini su Juve-Inter del '98: "Su Ronaldo non era rigore: cari interisti io non mi pento"" (in Italian). Il Tirreno-Edizione Livorno.
  13. "Island move suits Iuliano". UEFA.com. 12 January 2005. Retrieved 12 November 2008.
  14. "Nazionale in cifre: Iuliano, Mark" (in Italian). FIGC. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  15. "Euro 2000 Profile: Mark Iuliano". BBC. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  16. John Ley (9 June 2000). "Italy Team Details". The Telegraph. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  17. Graham Chadwick (13 July 2000). "Profile: Mark Iuliano". ESPN FC. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  18. "Breda sollevato dall'incarico, squadra affidata a Mark Iuliano" (in Italian). US Latina Calcio. 5 January 2015. Archived from the original on 4 January 2015. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
  19. "Mark Iuliano". Eurosport. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  20. "M. Iuliano". Soccerway. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  21. "ONORIFICENZE". quirinale.it (in Italian). 12 July 2000. Archived from the original on 10 January 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
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